Secret Fears
by SheReadsToBreathe
Summary: This is so not how Hermione wanted to reveal her marriage to her friends. And they said things would get easier after the war ended... Boggarts, secrets, angst, and Dramione fluff.


**I _do not own Harry Potter, that belongs to the lovely Miss. Rowling. If it were up to me Dramione would be cannon. ;)_**

Hermione had not faced a boggart since her third year. Back then her greatest fear was Professor McGonagall telling her she had failed her exams. To the young Hermione this was a terrifying prospect, but she knew that after the horrors she had faced in the war, her fear was to be far worse this time around. It was in this moment very similar to that of her past that Hermione wished to return to her younger more naïve self. Oh to have such childish fears again.

She glanced across the classroom to the side marred with silver and green, searching for some reassurance in the eyes of her husband. Hermione and Draco had been friends since a cold night in their 4th year that found them finding camaraderie over good books and a mutual annoyance with Ronald Weasley. Since then they had hidden their relationship as it quickly progressed from friendship to romance. At first they were afraid of being judged by their friends, then it became a necessity to protect them during the war.

After the war ended Draco promptly proposed to Hermione saying that life was too short to put their happiness off any longer. They were married in a private ceremony and returned to Hogwarts to finish their education shortly after, no one the wiser. As it were they were perfectly happy enjoying the privacy that came with their marriage being kept secret, though if Hermione were honest with herself, she yearned to share her happiness with her friends without fear of rejection.

Draco met Hermione's eyes at last. His complexion was even fairer than usual, but he gave her a slight encouraging smile nevertheless. They weren't the only ones with trepidations either. As soon as Professor Lupin announced the subject of the class activity there was almost a physical change in the room. It felt as though the air was suddenly a bit cooler and all conversation quickly died off.

Hermione steeled herself and raised her hand, "Professor, forgive me but I don't understand why we must expose our greatest fears to our peers. Surely we have faced most of them just this year already!"

Professor Lupin gave a knowing smile, "I am hoping, Miss Granger, that by the end of the lesson we will all be a bit more understanding of one another. I have found that fear has a way of humanizing even the greatest of foes." He looked at the clear division between Slytherin and Gryffindor in the room as he said this. As much as she wished to deny his logic, Hermione found herself regrettably agreeing with him. While the childish taunting and fighting had ended with the war, there was still a barrier between the houses; a general aura of mistrust that kept them from intermingling.

Excepting, of course, Draco and Herself, and if she knew herself as well as she thought, Professor Lupin was about to get a lot more than 'understanding' from her fear. So much for waiting for Graduation to tell everyone.

There was no music this time as the class began to face their fears one at a time. Rather than spiders, Ron now saw Fred lying dead on the ground, George cradling his body and yelling at Ron for choosing Harry and Hermione over protecting his own family. Harry, to everyone's surprise, did not see Voldemort, but himself. His skin was sunken in with malnourishment and his pale body covered in cuts and bruises. He kept going on about how he was nothing but a worthless freak who would never amount to anything.

With each fear more and more dead bodies were shown, family, friends, and in Pansy Parkinson's case her own. Sometimes Voldemort was there, other times a random death eater. One of the Slytherins watched her little brother be tortured for refusing to join the Dark Lord. Hermione grew more and more anxious with each passing moment. For every person who cast Riddikulus there was another who was too upset to utter the words and Professor Lupin would have to step in.

At last it was Hermione's turn. The cupboard shuttered and creaked open and Hermione held her wand with a firm grasp determined to not let her fears get the best of her. A pale hand pushed the door open and out stepped Draco Malfoy looking every bit like his counterpart in the back of the room. The class tittered with amusement. The girl who spent a year on the run from Voldemort himself was afraid of Draco Malfoy?

From his place in the room the real Draco tensed up under the curious eyes of his classmates wishing he could end this humiliation and save his love from the pain that was sure to follow.

As soon as boggart Draco's eyes met Hermione's a soft smile spread across his face and his eyes looked tenderly on her. For a moment they just stood there looking at each other, the class watching curiously as the words of hatred failed to cross Draco's lips.

"Draco." Hermione whispered. She took a slight step towards him, but as she did he moaned and held his hand to his chest. Hermione gasped and stepped backwards again watching as Draco doubled over panting to regain his breath. The tried moving towards him again but at her movement he cried out this time red beginning to blossom around his hand where it lay above his heart.

"No!" She cried and stepped closer reaching to help him.

"Gahh! Stop please get away!" He was on the ground by now. Gasping for breath, sweat beading on his forehead, and blood soaking through his white shirt.

"I don't understand! Draco, please let me help you!" Hermione was vaguely aware of the tears blurring her vision and the confused murmuring of the class around her, but she paid them no mind. All of her focus was on her husband, the love of her life dying before her and pushing her away.

"Don't you get it? I gave you my heart and you are destroying it. The closer I get to you, the faster I die." He was gasping for air at this point struggling to even speak.

"No, please! I would never hurt you!" she dropped to the ground trembling, her wand forgotten in her sorrow. It was all happening so fast and she felt utterly helpless.

He smiled sardonically, "You already have. My blood is on your hands now." With those final words boggart Draco breathed his last breath and fixated his lifeless grey eyes on Hermione's as he became completely still.

The only sound in the classroom was Hermione's tortured sobs as everyone else was too shocked by the scene in front of them to properly react.

Draco shoved his way past the stupefied students and knelt on the ground beside his wife quickly drawing her into his arms. Hermione buried her face into his chest as he began to whisper words of love and reassurance into her ear while everyone looked on.

At Draco's movement Lupin regained his senses and stepped in front of the boggart barely giving it time to from the shape of a moon before casting riddikulus and banishing it back to its cupboard.

Draco looked up at Lupin with distain. "Well I hope you are satisfied Professor." He spat, "You've proven that going through a war is enough to fill anyone with fear. Revolutionary. Now if you don't mind I will be forgoing my turn and taking my _wife_ back to her room." Lupin stuttered out an agreement and Draco whispered something to Hermione before shifting her in his arms to gently pull her up alongside him. With a nod of acknowledgement to the Professor and one last glare at the class he swept Hermione into his arms letting her snuggling into him and strode out of the room.

As soon as the door shut behind them the room came alive with conversation. "Bloody Hell!" "Malfoy and Granger?" "No its Malfoy and Malfoy remember! He called her his wife!" "How do you think he managed that one?" "I wonder how long has this been going on?" "That git probably gave her a love potion!" "Oh do be quiet Ron, I think it's cute." "Cute? No it's positively romantic! A forbidden love affair!" "I wonder if his father knows about this."

"Settle down class! Please!" Professor Lupin said to no avail. This was news too big to forego so quickly. After several more attempts at settling the class Lupin resigned himself and dismissed the class. At least the houses were associating with each other, even if it was over gossip.

In less than an hour the news of the forbidden love turned secret marriage had spread throughout the school and was the predominant topic of conversation at dinner that evening. Neither Draco nor Hermione had been seen since the class and that only served to fuel the participants. Even the professors were not immune to the lure of such gossip, Professor McGonagall was absolutely scandalized by the thought of her favorite Gryffindor being seduced by the Slytherin while Professor Flitwick claimed he suspected all along. So when the doors to the great hall opened to reveal Draco and Hermione silence once again greeted them.

Hermione subconsciously inched closer to her husband. "Draco, I think they all know." She muttered, her voice wavering slightly. Draco look back at her a smirk on his face and a mischievous look in his eyes. "Everyone? Are you quite sure?" Her eyes widened for a moment as she realized his implication before mirroring his smirk, a Slytherin trait she had picked up from spending too much time with him.

"Well there is only one way to find out I suppose." With that she grabbed hold of his silver and green tie and pulled him down to her capturing his lips with her own. His surprise wore off quickly and he melted into the kiss, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her flush against him.

If there was ever any doubt as to the nature of their relationship it was long gone now. The silence was broken as Harry, ever the leader, stood to his feet and began to applaud for his friend and her newfound happiness. Ginny followed quickly and before long the entirety of Hogwarts was cheering for the two people brave enough to put aside their differences in the name of love.

As Draco and Hermione parted and looked around the room at the support of their friends, they began to laugh. Because for the first time since the war ended, it really felt like everything would turn out alright.

 **Hey _everyone thank you so much for reading! I literally wrote this at 3am last night so please pardon any errors. I know it is not the most original concept in the world, but I always enjoy a good boggart reveal story so I thought it was about time I submitted one of my own. I hope you enjoyed the story and please show me your support by favoriting and reviewing :)_**


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